Promises of Jesus Whoever Let It All for Him

“I assure you,”Jesus said,“there is no one who has left house, brothers or sisters, mother or father,children, or fields because of Me and the gospel,who will not receive 100 timesmore, now at this time—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and eternal lifein the age to come.”

Mark 10:29-30

This is the promise of Jesus that he denies himself, take up his cross and follow him. If left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother, wife, children or land for Christ and the gospel, He promises us this time a hundred times more houses, brothers, sisters and mothers and children and lands; but we also persecutions; another great promise is eternal life.

Many people, when they become a Christian, hear these two verses of Mark halfway. To such people it sounds good that they will receive now in this time a hundred times what they left behind. They like that promise because they see it as a good investment. For them it is useful to leave a home and get a hundred. However, when the second part of the promise comes at this time, i.e., persecution, many who have approached Jesus with the wrong intention run away and returns to their old way.

I will give a brief testimony about how it has been applied Mark 10:29-30 to my own life. In May of 2002 I had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Until that stage of my life I lived in a spiritual blindness believing I was a good person. However, the Holy Spirit convinced me of all my sins and I realized that without Jesus I was lost. My first reaction upon learning that absolutely no one can save himself or herself by his or her own merits was sharing the good news of the gospel with my family; but all my relatives categorically rejected me urging me to return to the traditional path.

Given this crossroad I had to choose between following Christ and the gospel and heeding my family. I decided to choose the first and I had to leave my mother, my children, my house, the land where I felt comfortable, wife, brother and friends. From the human point of view, the worst thing that was not having left everything, but everyone got against me because of Jesus and the gospel. As a result, I suffered firsthand the persecution from my own family and my closest friends.

However, the promises God gives us in the Bible always will be met. Today I can tell you that I have received many times what I left behind. In a house I left behind, I have been received in many houses in several countries; I have found many mothers, sisters, brothers, children in many lands. But best of all that is not what I have achieved in this time, but the certainty of eternal life.

You, who are listening or reading this message, do not feel embarrassed or ashamed to let it all for Christ and the Gospel. Your reward in this life and the next are guaranteed because your Heavenly Father does not lie. God bless you.